Obituary of Diana Cooke

Diana was born in a suburb of London at the time of the depression. During World War II her school was demolished when the German Luftwaffe bombed her town in southern England. It was in that town of Bournemouth that she met and married Bob Cooke, a handsome young Naval officer. She worked for the British Medical Association while he completed his education at Oxford University. When her husband became a P&G executive, she dealt with the challenge of transferring her family from England to Caracas, Venezuela, a foreign country with a different language, customs, lifestyle and many cultural differences. From Caracas Diana and Bob were later transferred to Cincinnati, where she lived for more than sixty years, in the U.S.A. a country fond of happy endings. She loved learning, and as she put it, was a mature student at the University of Cincinnati achieving a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Education from Xavier University with a specialty in Counseling. Her academics interests included: Gestalt and Jungian Psychology. She was active in initiating the first Jungian Association of Greater Cincinnati. Diana was a writer and author of published stories. She kept a diary, which she relied on when later writing an excerpt included in Kirk Polking’s book, “Writing Family Histories and Memoirs” and to create a self-published personal memoir, “Venezuelan & Other Tall Tales.” She was also very interested in the meaning of dreams and wrote an article for a national magazine – A Study of dreams: “Dream Demonstration by the Numbers". She was interested in dreams and allegories in works such as “Alice in Wonderland” and the “Wizard of Oz". She particularly like this quotation from “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland": In the gardens of memory, In the places of dreams, That is where I will meet you. Mad Hatter Diana was a very avid tennis player. She also loved reading books about every subject. She and Bob organized many marvelous trips, so that they and their two daughters, Susan and Alison and later grandchildren could travel to many exotic places and make many return visits to England. Surviving are her daughters Susan McHugh (Leo McHugh) and Alison Cooke (Matthew Smith), grandchildren Diana Wheeler (Peter Wheeler) and Matthew McHugh (Claudia McHugh) and great-grandchildren Emilia McHugh, James Wheeler, Luna McHugh and Phoenix McHugh. Her parents, brothers and sister, and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, and her son-in-law Leo McHugh preceded her in death. She will be greatly missed, but her loving spirit will live on in many people’s memories. A private remembrance celebrating her life will be held. In lieu of flowers or a memorial donation in Diana’s name, the family suggests a donation of time or money to your favorite charity or organization. We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started from And know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot